An Encinitas Christmas Carol

Many Encinitans felt Scrooged when Paul and Kristin Gaspar and developer David Meyer set up a sham charity, "We Love Encinitas," to send out political mailers supporting the re-election of Jerome Stocks and Mark Muir.

Yesterday's Union-Trib brings some welcome news:

Nonprofit donates to other charities

We Love Encinitas, a nonprofit committed to the education and distribution of positive information about Encinitas, has made contributions to four local charities:

• The Hand to Hand fund through the Coastal Community Foundation, which promotes economic independence and positive change in the lives of women and girls.

• The Community Resource Center, a social services agency dedicated to providing domestic violence services, food programs and emergency/transitional housing assistance to women, children, individuals and families.

• Conner’s Cause for Children, which provides critical financial assistance to families struggling to cover the out-of-pocket costs of caring for a child with a life-threatening illness or injury.

• The Magdalena Ecke Family YMCA.

It was not clear from the news article or from We Love Encinitas' web site how significant the group's contributions were, or whether they amounted to more money than the group spent on the political campaign.

It is also not clear whether this is just another legal and PR ploy to create the appearance of a legitimate charity after being caught red-handed, or whether the Gaspars have seen a ghost and changed their hearts.

But in the holiday spirit, let us hope this is a true Christmas miracle.

Coming soon to a gutter near you

In what is apparently the first expenditure by Encinitas charity "We Love Encinitas" since the campaign season, the group has inserted flyers among the mattress ads and other detritus wrapped in plastic and thrown unsolicited on Encinitas lawns, gardens, and driveways.



Though the expenditure seems odd, we suspect that WLE's lawyers told them they had better start spending some money outside of election season to try to create the appearance that the charity is something other than a campaign ploy.

In other WLE news, a commenter points out at North Coast Current that WLE's claim of 501(c)(3) status was likely fraudulent, as the brand new group wouldn't have had time to get IRS approval.

More fingerprints on sham charity: Kristin Gaspar's, and developer David Meyer's

Last month, we learned that the charity sending out campaign propaganda to support incumbents Jerome Stocks and Mark Muir was tied to Paul Gaspar, husband of councilwoman Kristin Gaspar.

When questioned by the North Coast Current, Kristin Gaspar declined comment and directed questions toward her husband.

Now the trail goes directly to Kristin Gaspar.  The Coast News obtained the October 22 We Love Encinitas filing with the California Secretary of State which lists Kristin, not Paul, Gaspar as the agent for service of process.

More troubling than Gaspar's dissembling is the revelation that developer David Meyer is also behind the group.

The documents also list David Meyer, a real estate consultant and land developer in Encinitas as the secretary and chief financial officer of the group. Meyer’s past advocacy includes forming a political action group to oppose policies promoted by the late Councilwoman Maggie Houlihan.

A page from We Love Encinitas' Articles of Incorporation. It lists Councilwoman Kristin Gaspar as the agent for service of process. Documents filed later list Paul Gaspar as the agent for service of process.
In an email, Meyer said that any questions about his involvement with the group should be directed through We Love Encinitas, and not his personal email and phone number.

All requests for comments from We Love Encinitas, including whether the group has been granted or is applying for 501 (c) 3 status, have gone unanswered.

Who does Kristin Gaspar represent? The people of Encinitas or special interests like developer David Meyer?

New blog comes to Encinitas

The web site weloveencinitas.com, connected to Paul Gaspar's "We Love Encinitas" charity, has changed over to a blog format.



As Gaspar told the North Coast Current, “... one does not have to be secret about disseminating good news – unlike the multiple anonymous negative groups and blogs that have infected Encinitas.”

We have no idea who the negative groups and blogs are that have infected Encinitas (if you do know, please send us a tip), but the new blog holds true to Gaspar's vision of All Happy Talk, All the Time. The first three posts include the amazing citizen satisfaction survey, "Encinitas citizens love a parade," and happy progress on the Hall Park.

Authorship on the blog posts is anonymous, and comments are not allowed.

Ironically, the positive tone of the blog stands in marked contrast to the writings of We Love Encinitas' beloved Jerome Stocks, who is entering retirement with a poison pen. On county Republican blog SDRostra, Stocks attacks his successor, Tony Kranz, for "seeming" to want a ridiculous $56,000 expenditure (how does one "seem" to want a $56,000 expenditure?  Did Kranz request it or not?).

We struggle to recall an example of a politician being less gracious in defeat.  And politicians are not a gracious lot.

Paul Gaspar fingered as man behind sham charity

Recently, we marveled at the gall of some shadowy new group to take charity money and use it for blatantly transparent political purposes. We can now add self-serving to that charge, and put a face to that seedy group.

From the California Secretary of State's web site:



None other than Paul Gaspar, husband of city council member and Jerome Stocks acolyte Kristin Gaspar.

Really, Paul?  Using a charity to send out campaign propaganda didn't trigger even the tiniest sense of shame?



Incidentally, Kristin Gaspar's 2010 election campaign was heavily funded by out-of-town physical therapists, who presumably had a lot more interest in currying favor with Paul Gaspar as director of the California Physical Therapy Association than they had in wayside horns for Encinitas.

 HT: Anonymous

Bonus Thought: If Paul Gaspar plays this fast and loose with IRS rules on 501(c)3 charities, what else might he be pushing the envelope on?  An enterprising IRS auditor might want to find out!

Stocks uses taxpayer-funded survey, tax-exempt charity for campaign propaganda

We knew when the city commissioned its ridiculous "citizen satisfaction survey" in an election year, the purpose was to give the incumbents a political weapon. As if the reason anyone likes living in Encinitas has anything to do with City Hall. Conveniently left out of the survey, by the way, were questions about overdevelopment, unfunded pension liabilities, toxic waste at the Hall Park, crony real estate transactions and city contracts, etc.

I'd say the survey tells us what we already knew: that people love to live in Encinitas and have almost no interaction with City Hall.

So here is the mailer we've been expecting. "Thank you to our city council... for making our city such a wonderful place to live, work, and play. Keep up the good work."

But the new twist is that the group paying for this is a 501(c)3 charitable organization, "We Love Encinitas."

Quoting from the IRS web site on 501(c)3's:

The organization must not be organized or operated for the benefit of private interests [...]

Charity money going to send out love notes to politicians during campaign season? Whose interests are served by this at all other than the private electoral interests of Jerome Stocks and Mark Muir?  When, in the history of all municipalities, has a legitimate charity ever been formed to mail out puff pieces on politicians during campaign season?

Think about that: Jerome Stocks' backers are getting tax deductions for sending out what are, for all practical purposes, campaign mailers.  I suspect the IRS will frown on this charade and those involved will face legal consequences.  But even if not, what was Stocks thinking?  On the heels of sign-gate, to serve up another prime example of cutting corners and bending or breaking rules for political gain?  How much more blatant could he be in validating the complaints of his harshest critics?